HANDS OF GOLD

A NEUROSURGEON WITH “HANDS OF GOLD”

Anamaria Arboleda accompanied her sister to a procedure with Dr. Orlando Diaz in 2019, who insisted Arboleda get a brain scan. She heeded his advice, and doctors found a brain aneurysm. Arboleda decided to undergo the procedure that would save her life. Arboleda left her family in Colombia and relocated to Houston with her husband 30 years ago. A few years later, her father — in Colombia — was treated for a brain aneurysm by doctor Diaz, who was practicing in Bogota back then. Dr. Diaz warned Arboleda’s sister their father’s condition was hereditary and the siblings should be tested regularly for it. “My sister, Leticia, was diligent and received checkups in Colombia every year,” says Arboleda. “I never did.” In 2018, Leticia got an MRI, and doctors found a brain aneurysm. This medical condition refers to a bulge or ballooning of a blood vessel in the brain that can leak or rupture. “Leticia researched the best doctor to fix it and found Dr. Diaz, who had operated on our father,” Arboleda continues. “It was a crazy coincidence. He had been practicing here in Houston, where I live.” Dr. Diaz, associate professor of clinical neurosurgery at Houston Methodist, operated on Leticia in 2019 and reminded Arboleda she should be checked. “I didn’t do it,” Arboleda recalls. “I thought, ‘What are the odds?’ Since my sister had it, I didn’t think I would get it.” Arboleda then scheduled an MRI that detected her brain aneurysm. After Dr. Diaz successfully operated on her, he explained her situation was more serious than her sister’s condition because of her arteries’ thin walls and her aneurysm’s location. He told Arboleda her aneurysm was like “a ticking bomb.” “I know why people call Dr. Diaz ‘Manos de Oro’ (Golden Hands),” Arboleda says. “He is a gifted physician, and he saved the lives of three members of my family. I am thankful to him and to Houston Methodist; both my procedure and care were amazing. I have no words to describe how excellent my experience was.”